


New Traditions

by Bookworm1063



Series: CO Countdown 2020 [4]
Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Carry On Countdown (Simon Snow), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:28:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27760783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookworm1063/pseuds/Bookworm1063
Summary: I want to tell him everything. I want Nicky to know how our mum cried last year. I want him to hear about our siblings. About how much we all miss him.How I feel like I’ve been walking around without my shadow, this past year and a half. Without one of my legs.The start of Ebb and Nico's annual meetups.
Relationships: Ebeneza "Ebb" Petty & Nicodemus Petty
Series: CO Countdown 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026988
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6
Collections: Carry On Countdown 2020





	New Traditions

**Ebb**

It’s Christmas Eve, and my mum’s kitchen smells like the ham we all had for dinner. This year was the first she ever let me help with the cooking.

I’m standing at the sink, rinsing out the last of the dishes. It’s dark outside. Everyone else is in bed already.

Last year was our first Christmas without Nicky. Mum cried herself sick over it. So did I.

This year, no one cried. We ate, and Mum shooed the little ones off to bed to wait for Santa. I volunteered to do the washing up. I don’t mind. It gives me a chance to be alone, and to think about my brother.

I set the last plate down in the drying rack and spell the towel clean. Then I point my staff at the dishes and spell them back into the cupboards. No sense leaving a mess out for Mum to deal with.

I grab a fresh plate and fill it with leftovers—some ham, and bread, and a few Christmas cookies. I take my staff and head for the stairs.

That’s when I notice the shadow. It ripples over the floor in front of me, just for a moment, before it vanishes.

I spin towards the kitchen window. For a moment, I think I imagined it.

Then I see the movement in the trees.

I kick the back door open and step out onto the lawn. It’s colder than a witch’s wit, and I didn’t stop to grab a scarf. The grass crunches with frost.

“I know you’re there,” I say. “Come on out, now, and save us both the trouble.” 

Again, for a moment, there’s nothing. Then someone hops over the fence and lands in a crouch on my mum’s lawn.

It’s Nicky.

I’d know him anywhere, even after more than a year. I know him like I know my own shadow.

I don’t speak to him. It’s against the rules. But I look him over, checking. He seems alright.

I glance down at the plate in my hand. I hadn’t set it down before I came rushing out here. I walk forward, to the fence, and balance it on one of the wooden posts. Then I back away.

I leave it for him. To decide.

Nicky creeps up and takes the plate before retreating several steps.

I want to tell him everything. I want Nicky to know how our mum cried last year. I want him to hear about our siblings. About how much we all miss him.

How I feel like I’ve been walking around without my shadow, this past year and a half. Without one of my legs.

I tip my head back, watching the sky. It looks like it might snow.

And I talk.

I don’t talk to him. I try to pretend he’s not there. I tell the leaves and the squirrels and the birds about the family. I tell the house about my new job at Watford. I tell the wind about the hole in my chest. The one my twin isn’t around to fill anymore. 

I don’t look back until I’ve finished speaking. He’s gone, vanished into the woods like a wraith. The plate, clean of food, sits on the wooden post. I don’t know how much he heard, but he wouldn’t have come if he didn’t care.

I take the plate and go back into the house.


End file.
